What is the postmodernist position on inequality?

Postmodernists argue that the large structures earlier sociology described have fragmented. Identity is constructed through consumption and choice rather than assigned by position. No single theory can account for the diversity of contemporary experience.

What did Lyotard argue about metanarratives?

Lyotard argued in 1979 that grand explanatory schemes such as Marxism, which claim to account for the whole course of history, have lost credibility, and that knowledge in postmodern conditions is local and plural rather than unified.

How does the rejection of metanarratives apply to theories of inequality?

If no single account can explain society as a whole, then Marxism and functionalism alike are stories rather than science, and inequality must be studied through many partial accounts rather than one comprehensive theory.

What did Pakulski and Waters argue?

Pakulski and Waters argued in 1996 that class is dying as a source of identity and political alignment. Status and cultural difference expressed through consumption have, on their account, become the main axes of social division.

What evidence is offered against the decline of class?

Class continues to predict health, education, income and life expectancy strongly. Critics such as Marshall argue that a weakening of class identity is not a weakening of class structure, and that the two should not be confused.

Eduqas A-Level Sociology A200QS

Culture and the Social Construction of Culture

Topic overview Culture as a way of life Norms, values and beliefs Roles, status and role conflict Dress, appearance and cultural identity Language and cultural transmission Food, diet and cultural rules Music, the arts and high and popular culture The social construction of culture Feral children and extreme isolation The nature and nurture debate Culture and social change Cultural diversity, multiculturalism and hybridity Subcultures and countercultures

Socialisation and Its Agencies

Topic overview Primary socialisation Secondary socialisation Role models and imitation Sanctions and the enforcement of norms The family and cultural transmission Peer groups and peer socialisation Education as an agency of socialisation Religion as an agency of socialisation The media as an agency of socialisation Work and occupational socialisation Informal social control Formal social control Cultural reproduction and the limits of socialisation

Socialisation and Identity

Topic overview Personal identity and the self Social identity and collective belonging Sociological theories of identity Consumption, globalisation and identity Gender socialisation and gender identity Changing femininities Changing masculinities Class identity and the working class Middle-class, upper-class and underclass identities The decline of class identity Ethnicity and ethnic identity Hybrid identities and cultural change National identity and Britishness

Option: Families and HouseholdsFamilies

Topic overview Defining families and households Family forms and family diversity Ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in family life Marriage, cohabitation and singlehood Divorce and separation Fertility, life expectancy and the ageing population Conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour Power, decision-making and domestic violence Childhood and relationships between the generations Functionalist perspectives on the family The New Right and social policy on the family Marxist and feminist perspectives on the family Postmodernist perspectives, the life course and personal life

Option: Youth CulturesYouth cultures

Topic overview Youth and the social construction of adolescence The media and the formation of youth culture Economic change, affluence and the youth market Globalisation and youth culture Social class and youth subcultures Gender and youth culture Ethnicity and youth culture Neo-tribes and the changing nature of youth culture Delinquency, crime and youth offending Anti-school subcultures and youth in education Moral panics and media representations of youth Functionalist and Marxist perspectives on youth culture Feminist, interactionist and postmodernist perspectives on youth culture

Option: EducationEducation

Topic overview The role and function of education in society Functionalist perspectives on education Marxist perspectives on education Interactionist perspectives and labelling in education Feminist perspectives on education The New Right and education Postmodernist perspectives on education Patterns and trends in attainment and participation Material factors and educational achievement Cultural factors: deprivation, language and cultural capital Explaining the gender and ethnicity gaps Streaming, setting and pupil subcultures Education policy and marketisation

Option: MediaMedia

Topic overview The role and function of the media in society Ownership and control of the media Marxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on the media Pluralist perspectives on the media Feminist perspectives on the media Postmodernist perspectives on the media News values, newsworthiness and agenda setting Models of media effects and the active audience Moral panics and folk devils New media, globalisation and the digital divide Representations of social class and age in the media Representations of gender, ethnicity and disability in the media Media regulation and social policy

Option: ReligionReligion

Topic overview Defining religion and its role in society Functionalist perspectives on religion Marxist and neo-Marxist perspectives on religion Feminist perspectives on religion Weberian perspectives on religion Postmodernist perspectives on religion Secularisation: the evidence for decline Secularisation: the case against Churches, denominations, sects and cults New religious movements and the new age Fundamentalism and religion in a globalising world Religiosity by class, gender, ethnicity and age Religion and social policy in contemporary society

Research Methods: Primary and Secondary

Topic overview Questionnaires: writing them and delivering them Structured interviews Unstructured and semi-structured interviews Focus groups and group interviews Participant observation, overt and covert Non-participant and structured observation Social surveys Ethnographic methods Longitudinal studies Methodological pluralism and triangulation Existing sociological research as secondary data Official statistics Personal documents, public documents and newspaper reports

Sampling, Ethics and Practical Issues

Topic overview Target populations and sampling frames Simple random and systematic random sampling Stratified random and quota sampling Snowball and volunteer sampling Purposive and opportunity samples Gatekeepers and gaining access Informed consent and vulnerability Deception and covert research Confidentiality, anonymity and privacy The right to withdraw and protection from harm Sensitivity and researching difficult subjects Operationalisation and the choice of research topic Time, cost and the practical limits on research

Key Concepts and Theories of Research

Topic overview Validity and what threatens it Reliability, standardisation and replication Representativeness and the sample Generalisability Objectivity, value freedom and bias Ethics as a criterion for judging research Positivism and the scientific study of society Interpretivism and verstehen Interactionism, phenomenology and interpretivist research in practice Realism and the search for underlying causes The suicide debate as a test of the three positions Choosing a method: theory, practicality and ethics

Social Inequality: Evidence and Patterns

Topic overview Social inequality and stratification Measuring social class in the contemporary UK Class inequality in income and wealth Class inequality in health and life expectancy Class inequality in education and employment Gender inequality in work and pay Gender inequality beyond the workplace Ethnic inequality in employment and income Ethnic inequality in health, education and criminal justice Age and inequality The changing distribution of income and wealth Social mobility in the contemporary UK

Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification

Topic overview Functionalist theories of stratification Criticisms of functionalist stratification theory The New Right Marxist theories of class Neo-Marxist theories Weberian theories of stratification Neo-Weberian theories Feminist explanations of inequality Explaining gender inequality beyond feminism Theories of racism and ethnic inequality Explaining age inequality Postmodernist accounts of inequality Comparing and evaluating the theories

Option: Crime and DevianceCrime

Topic overview Defining crime and deviance as social constructs The media, moral panics and the social construction of crime Measuring crime: official government statistics Victim studies and self-report studies The social distribution of crime by class and age The social distribution of crime by gender The social distribution of crime by ethnicity Functionalist explanations of crime and deviance Sub-cultural explanations of crime and deviance Marxist and neo-Marxist explanations of crime Interactionist explanations and labelling theory Right realism, left realism and crime control policy Feminist and postmodernist explanations of crime

Option: Health and DisabilityHealth

Topic overview Defining health and illness as social constructs The medical and social models of disability Official statistics, patterns and trends in health Health and social class Health and gender Health and ethnicity Health and age Artefact and self-selection explanations Cultural and material explanations Access to and provision of health care in the UK The biomedical model, medicalisation and health professionals Functionalist and Marxist approaches to health Interactionist, feminist and postmodernist approaches to health

Option: PoliticsPolitics

Topic overview Power, authority and legitimacy Pluralist theories of power Elite theories of power Marxist and neo-Marxist theories of power Functionalist, Weberian and postmodernist theories of power Patterns and trends in political participation Political participation and social class Voting behaviour and partisan de-alignment Political participation and gender Political participation, ethnicity and age Political parties and the democratic process Pressure groups and policy making New social movements and anti-capitalist movements

Option: World SociologyWorld sociology

Topic overview Defining and measuring development Global inequality in health Global inequality in education Employment and the global division of labour Global poverty, marginalisation and exclusion Population, urbanisation and demographic change Aid and its critics Debt, structural adjustment and development policy Globalisation, transnational corporations and world trade Non-governmental organisations and international institutions Modernisation theory Marxist, dependency and world systems theories Feminist and people-centred accounts of development

Theories and Explanations of Inequality and Stratification

Postmodernist accounts of inequality

3 things to know
Component 3 Section A

Overview

Postmodernist position on inequality, risk society and criticism of the individualisation thesis.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What evidence is offered for the decline of class?

Evaluation

What is the strongest criticism of postmodern accounts of inequality?

Key term

What have postmodern accounts usefully drawn attention to?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is the postmodernist position on inequality?
Model answer
Postmodernists argue that the large structures earlier sociology described have fragmented. Identity is constructed through consumption and choice rather than assigned by position. No single theory can account for the diversity of contemporary experience.
2
What did Lyotard argue about metanarratives?
Model answer
Lyotard argued in 1979 that grand explanatory schemes such as Marxism, which claim to account for the whole course of history, have lost credibility, and that knowledge in postmodern conditions is local and plural rather than unified.
3
How does the rejection of metanarratives apply to theories of inequality?
Model answer
If no single account can explain society as a whole, then Marxism and functionalism alike are stories rather than science, and inequality must be studied through many partial accounts rather than one comprehensive theory.
4
What did Pakulski and Waters argue?
Model answer
Pakulski and Waters argued in 1996 that class is dying as a source of identity and political alignment. Status and cultural difference expressed through consumption have, on their account, become the main axes of social division.
5
What evidence is offered for the decline of class?
Model answer
The decline in manufacturing employment and union membership, the weakening link between class and voting, the fall in the number of people identifying with a class, and the rise of political divisions organised around identity and culture.
6
What evidence is offered against the decline of class?
Model answer
Class continues to predict health, education, income and life expectancy strongly. Critics such as Marshall argue that a weakening of class identity is not a weakening of class structure, and that the two should not be confused.

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Culture and the Social Construction of Culture

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Option: Families and Households

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ASecularisation has weakened religious pressure to marry.

BCohabitation is now widely accepted.

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